Ax wedge and guard



(N0 MbdelQ) 4 G. P. MORRILL. AX WEDGE AND GUARD.

No. 503,351. Patented Aug; 15, 1893.

w 1 1 J,@ il Yl/ wifl l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE P. MORRILL, OF CANTERBURY, NEIV HAMPSHIRE.

AX WEDGE AND GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,351, dated August 15, 1893.

Application filed October 12, 1888- Serial No. 287,912. (No model.)

To atZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE P. MORRILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canterbury,in the county of Merrimac and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ax \Vedges and Guards, of which the following is a specification, accompanied by drawings, forming a part of the same, setting forth a full, clear, and exact description of the nature of myinvention and in what the same consists.

Figure 1 is a side view of an ax, partly in section taken on line X, X, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is an end or top view of an ax, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the end of the ax helve, with the guard attached.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several views.

In Fig. 1 A denotes the ax head; It the ax helve and E the wedge by which the head is retained upon the helve.

D is an iron guard placed upon the helve just below and nextto the head of the ax, to protect the helve from splitting or abrasion in the operation of cutting or splitting wood, and consisting of a metallic band extending around the helve. The side of the guard on the under side of the helve is wide at a, a, to protect the helve, with the upper side narrow at l), and with the openings 0 in the sides of the guard to reduce the weight. The wedge E is provided with a flange F having an opening at G, through which I pass a rod or spike [-1. The rod II has a head J larger than the opening G and the point of the rod or spike is driven through the eye of the ax between the head and the helve as shown in Fig. 1 and also between the helve and guard D, with the point of the rod turned up over the top of the guard as shown at J in Fig. 1, thereby firmly uniting the ax wedge and guard together and also wedging the ax head upon the helve in a direction opposite to that of the wedge E, or between the helve and the head of the ax.

The rod l-l may be driven in the opposite direction, or through the guard first and turned 011 the flange of the wedge, and the rod I prefer to corrngate so that it will cling to the wood of the helve.

I am aware that a clip, or plate has been applied to the helve of an an and connected by a bolt, or bolts, with a flanged wedge inserted in the end of the helve. Such a construction is shown in the patent to Stewart, granted October 29, 1867, No. 70,284, and I do not claim the construction therein shown. Instead of the clip applied to the helve as shown in the patent to Stewart, I employ a guard D consisting of an annular ring, or band, formed in one piece and extending entirely around the helve and having the band at a, (1, upon the inner side of the helve much wider than the band at the outer side of the helve, as at b. The belt II is attached to the narrow side of the guard D and upon the outer side of the helve, so that any strain, or pull, of the bolt I-I upon the guard D, will tend to move the narrow side I) in advance of the wide side a, a, and cause the guard to grip the helve, whereas, if the two sides were of equal width,or it both sides were connected by bolts with the plate F of the wedge, any tendency of the an head to slide oft the end of the helve would cause the guard to slide also and would only be resisted by the wedge E. By the construction and arrangement shown in the accompanying drawings, the guard D serves to assist in retaining the ax head upon the helve as the plate F extends over the end of the helve and rests against the head of the ax, so that any movement of the ax head off the helve will pull upon the narrow side B of the guard D, causing the guard to bind upon the helve as already described.

hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the annular guard D, inclosing the helve and consisting of an integral band with the portion a, (L, on the lower, or front side of the helve the widest and with the portion at the opposite, or rear side of the helve contracted into a narrow band I), a wedge inserted in the end of the helve and provided with a flanged head F extending over and resting upon the ax head and the bolt H passing through the flanged head F and embedded in the edge of the helve, said bolt being provided with a head .I resting upon the flanged head F, and a hooked end .I turned over the narrow portion 1) of the guard D and connecting said guard and flanged head, substantially as described.

GEO. P. MORRILL.

YVitnesses:

Burns 13. FOWLER, II. M. FOWLER. 

